Emergent Tokyo

Emergent Tokyo
Author: Jorge Almazan
Publisher:
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2022-04-12
Genre:
ISBN: 9781951541323

This book examines the urban fabric of contemporary Tokyo as a valuable demonstration of permeable, inclusive, and adaptive urban patterns that required neither extensive master planning nor corporate urbanism to develop. These urban patterns are emergent: that is, they are the combined result of numerous modifications and appropriations of space by small agents interacting within a broader socio-economic ecosystem. Together, they create a degree of urban intensity and liveliness that is the envy of the world's cities. This book examines five of these patterns that appear conspicuously throughout Tokyo: yokocho alleyways, multi-tenant zakkyo buildings, undertrack infills, low-rise dense neighborhoods, and the river-like ankyo streets. Unlike many of the discussions on Tokyo that emphasise cultural uniqueness, this book aims at transcultural validity, with a focus on empirical analysis of the spatial and social conditions that allow these patterns to emerge. The authors of Emergent Tokyo acknowledge the distinct character of Tokyo without essentialising or fetishising it, offering visitors, architects, and urban policy practitioners an unparalleled understanding of Tokyo's urban landscape.

Tokyo: 29 Walks in the World's Most Exciting City

Tokyo: 29 Walks in the World's Most Exciting City
Author: John H. Martin
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Total Pages: 620
Release: 2014-05-28
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 1462908888

The only guide you'll need for walking around Tokyo! Everything you need is in this one convenient package--including a large pull-out map! Tokyo: 29 Walks in the World's Most Exciting City is the only Tokyo travel guide that is exclusively a walking guide, with lively text full of facts and stories that emphasize the history, culture, architecture and spirit of the city and its neighborhoods. On foot and by train or subway, it takes you through the most fascinating parts of the modern megalopolis, while making the shogun's city--the Edo of samurai and geishas, merchants and artisans--and the outlines of old Tokyo come alive. From famous historical sites like the Imperial Palace to unique attractions like the Tsukiji Fish Market, this travel book offers something for every visitor and even long-term residents. Fully up-to-date, Tokyo: 29 Walks in the World's Most Exciting City contains: 19 walks in Tokyo 10 day trips that include Yokohama, Kamakura, Mt. Fuji, and Kawagoe More than 100 full-color photos 50 full-color maps A large pull-out map!

Stranger in the Shogun's City

Stranger in the Shogun's City
Author: Amy Stanley
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2020-07-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 1501188542

*Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography* *Winner of the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Award* *Winner of the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography* A “captivating” (The Washington Post) work of history that explores the life of an unconventional woman during the first half of the 19th century in Edo—the city that would become Tokyo—and a portrait of a city on the brink of a momentous encounter with the West. The daughter of a Buddhist priest, Tsuneno was born in a rural Japanese village and was expected to live a traditional life much like her mother’s. But after three divorces—and a temperament much too strong-willed for her family’s approval—she ran away to make a life for herself in one of the largest cities in the world: Edo, a bustling metropolis at its peak. With Tsuneno as our guide, we experience the drama and excitement of Edo just prior to the arrival of American Commodore Perry’s fleet, which transformed Japan. During this pivotal moment in Japanese history, Tsuneno bounces from tenement to tenement, marries a masterless samurai, and eventually enters the service of a famous city magistrate. Tsuneno’s life provides a window into 19th-century Japanese culture—and a rare view of an extraordinary woman who sacrificed her family and her reputation to make a new life for herself, in defiance of social conventions. “A compelling story, traced with meticulous detail and told with exquisite sympathy” (The Wall Street Journal), Stranger in the Shogun’s City is “a vivid, polyphonic portrait of life in 19th-century Japan [that] evokes the Shogun era with panache and insight” (National Review of Books).

Walking in Circles

Walking in Circles
Author: Todd Wassel
Publisher:
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2020-07-20
Genre:
ISBN: 9781735311609

How far would you walk for happiness?After living in Japan for over half a decade Todd Wassel finds himself at a crossroads in life and caught between worlds. Out of work, out of love, and drowning in debt, Todd is convinced that there should be a purpose to life, but nothing has worked out up to now. Desperate, he launches a last-ditch effort to understanding what a meaningful life really is by walking the grueling 750-mile, 88-temple Buddhist pilgrimage on Japan's remote island of Shikoku, again. In search of himself and a Japan he thought was lost, Walking in Circles, lovingly retells Todd's sometimes outrageous, painful, and suspense filled journey. Todd is joined on the path by an eccentric group of characters, naked Yakuza trying to shake him down, a wandering ascetic searching for enlightenment while hiding from the Freemasons, and a Buddhist Monk who hates America but loves beef jerky.Walking in Circles is more than a humorous travel memoir of personal transformation. Todd crafts an intimate portrait of a changing Japan and a nation in search of meaning. What he finds changes his life forever.Are you prepared to find enlightenment on the backroads of Japan?

Intermediate Japanese Short Stories

Intermediate Japanese Short Stories
Author: Lingo Mastery
Publisher:
Total Pages: 142
Release: 2021-05-14
Genre:
ISBN: 9781951949341

Are you on your way towards learning Japanese and need a new challenge? We're constantly trying to improve and master new skills, and the Japanese language is no exception. We have created the next level of Japanese stories for the students who have already surpassed the beginner level: Intermediate Japanese Short Stories! In this book we have compiled 10 challenging, compelling and fun stories that will allow you to expand your vocabulary and give you the tools to boost your grasp of the wonderful Japanese tongue.How Intermediate Japanese Short Stories works:?Each chapter possesses a funny, interesting and/or thought-provoking story based on real-life situations, allowing you to learn about the Japanese culture.?Having trouble understanding Japanese characters? No problem - despite being Intermediate Japanese, we have still included a romanization to help guide you through your learning process, just like in the beginner stories!?The summaries follow the story: a synopsis in Japanese and in English of what you just read, both to review the lesson and for you to see if you understood what the tale was about. Use them if you're having trouble.?At the end of those summaries, you'll be provided with a list of the most relevant vocabulary involved in the lesson, as well as slang and sayings that you may not have understood at first glance! Don't get lost trying to understand or pronounce it all, either, as all of the vocabulary words are Romanized for your ease of learning!?Finally, you'll be provided with a set of tricky questions in Japanese, allowing you the chance to prove that you learned something in the story. Don't worry if you don't know the answer to any - we will provide them immediately after, but no cheating!We want you to feel comfortable while mastering the Japanese tongue; after all, no language should be a barrier for you to travel around the world and expand your social circles!So look no further! Pick up your copy of Intermediate Japanese Short Stories and level up your Japanese language learning right now!

After Dark

After Dark
Author: Haruki Murakami
Publisher: Vintage Canada
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2010-07-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0307370488

A short, sleek novel of encounters set in the witching hours of Tokyo between midnight and dawn, and every bit as gripping as Haruki Murakami’s masterworks The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore. At its center are two sisters: Yuri, a fashion model sleeping her way into oblivion; and Mari, a young student soon led from solitary reading at an anonymous Denny’s into lives radically alien to her own: those of a jazz trombonist who claims they’ve met before; a burly female “love hotel” manager and her maidstaff; and a Chinese prostitute savagely brutalized by a businessman. These “night people” are haunted by secrets and needs that draw them together more powerfully than the differing circumstances that might keep them apart, and it soon becomes clear that Yuri’s slumber—mysteriously tied to the businessman plagued by the mark of his crime—will either restore or annihilate her. After Dark moves from mesmerizing drama to metaphysical speculation, interweaving time and space as well as memory and perspective into a seamless exploration of human agency—the interplay between self-expression and understanding, between the power of observation and the scope of compassion and love. Murakami’s trademark humor, psychological insight and grasp of spirit and morality are here distilled with an extraordinary, harmonious mastery.

Unbroken

Unbroken
Author: Laura Hillenbrand
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 497
Release: 2010-11-16
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0679603751

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The incredible true story of survival and salvation that is the basis for two major motion pictures: Unbroken and Unbroken: Path to Redemption. “Extraordinarily moving . . . a powerfully drawn survival epic.”—The Wall Street Journal Hailed as the top nonfiction book of the year by Time magazine • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for biography On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War. The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini. In boyhood, he’d been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails. As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile. But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown. Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will. Laura Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed in Seabiscuit. Telling an unforgettable story of a man’s journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit.

Love Goes to Buildings on Fire

Love Goes to Buildings on Fire
Author: Will Hermes
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2012-09-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 0374533547

This title provides a group portrait of some of the greatest musicians of the 20th century, including Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, Grandmaster Flash and Bob Dylan.

Outlook

Outlook
Author: Alfred Emanuel Smith
Publisher:
Total Pages: 588
Release: 1921
Genre:
ISBN:

In The Miso Soup

In The Miso Soup
Author: Ryu Murakami
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 131
Release: 2009-08-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1408806371

A rollercoaster ride from the cult master of the psycho-thriller 'A blistering portrait of contemporary Japan, its nihilism and decadence wrapped up within one of the most savage thrillers since The Silence of the Lambs' Kirkus 'Deft and fascinating . . . A grisly tour of the darkness and confusion of the human mind' New York Times It's just before New Year, and Frank, an overweight American tourist, has hired Kenji to take him on a guided tour of Tokyo's red light district. As Frank's behaviour becomes increasingly unsettling, Kenji begins to entertain a horrible suspicion: his client may in fact have murderous intentions. Although Kenji is far from innocent himself, he unwillingly descends into the troubling waters of Frank's mind, from which only his sixteen-year-old girlfriend, Jun, can possibly save him.